Key insights

• Decentralized Social Platforms and App Stores

  • 📲 Concerns about centralized control of social media feeds and the proposal for a 'bring your own feed algorithm'.
  • 🔍 Exploring the decentralization of app stores through succinct proofs for software properties.
  • 🛡️ Discussion on the use of terms like ZK VM and the importance of security in snarks.

• Challenges, Partnerships, and Open-Source Development

  • 🛠️ Encountered challenges with off-the-shelf tools and built custom solutions.
  • 🤝 Partnership between researchers and engineers required bridging communication gaps.
  • 📦 Open-source project aims to encourage adoption and trust in the technology.
  • 📊 Potential applications include verifiable compilation, software package registries, and broader blockchain usage.

• R&D and Future of Snark Technology

  • 🔬 Team's heavy investment in R&D for snark development since 2018.
  • 📈 Expectation of continued improvement from better protocols, engineering, and specialized hardware for snarks.
  • 💼 Formation of a market for snark-related hardware anticipated.
  • 📈 Major developments and optimizations contributing to improvements in snark performance.

• Optimizing zkSNARKs in Juvix

  • 🚀 Switching to hashing-based techniques can make Juvix 10x faster.
  • 🔁 Reducing the prover overhead makes zkSNARKs more applicable to a wider range of use cases.

• GKR Protocol, Lookup Argument, and Field Size Constraint

  • 🛠️ Implementation and advocacy of the GKR protocol.
  • 🔄 Introduction of a lookup argument called lasso for efficient computation and validation.
  • 🚧 Challenge posed by the 256-bit field size for snarks in leveraging existing performance strategies.

• Su-CHE Protocol for Efficient Snark Design

  • 🔑 The Su-CHE protocol minimizes the amount of cryptography required by the prover in snark design.
  • 🔗 It combines non-cryptographic techniques with commitment schemes to achieve snark functionality.
  • 📚 Potential for new advances by revisiting original literature in the field.

• ZKM and Jolt in Simplifying Development and Enhancing Security

  • 🔣 ZKM allows programming in high-level languages like Rust or Python.
  • 🛡️ ZVM improves developer experience and security by simplifying the implementation and reducing the surface area for bugs.
  • ⚡ Jolt focuses on addressing ZKM performance and security issues by speeding up the prover, simplifying implementation, and providing high-level language support for RV32I instructions.
  • 🔄 Lasso, introduced with Jolt, simplifies the underlying VM programming model, making it more trustworthy.

• Introduction to Verifiable Computing, Snarks, and ZKVMs

  • 🔍 Verifiable computing, snarks, and ZKVMs are revolutionizing blockchain scalability and enabling broader applications.
  • 🔐 Snarks compress validation programs, allowing efficient verification while maintaining trust.
  • 💻 ZKVMs simplify snark usage for developers, bridging decentralization and efficiency.
  • 🔄 Snark design parallels real hardware design, offering surprising insights.

Q&A

• What potential applications were discussed for snark technology?

  Potential applications include verifiable compilation for smart contracts, software package registries, and broader usage in blockchains. The segment also discussed the concept of 'bring your own feed algorithm' in decentralized social platforms and the potential for a decentralized app store using succinct proofs.

• What challenges did the team face in their research and development?

  The team encountered challenges with off-the-shelf tools and had to build custom solutions. The partnership between researchers and engineers was fruitful but required bridging communication gaps. They plan to address technical debt and make interfaces more generic, aiming to encourage adoption and trust in the technology through an open-source project.

• What are the team's expectations and investments in snark development?

  The team heavily invests in R&D for snark development, expecting further improvement from better protocols, engineering, and specialized hardware. They anticipate the formation of a market for snark-related hardware due to major developments and optimizations that have led to improvements in snark performance.

• How can Juvix's implementation of zkSNARKs be made faster?

  Switching to hashing-based techniques can make Juvix 10x faster, improving the overall performance of zkSNARKs. This reduction in prover overhead makes zkSNARKs more applicable to a wider range of use cases.

• What is the Su-CHE protocol, and what is its role in snark design?

  The Su-CHE protocol minimizes the amount of cryptography required by the prover in snark design. It combines non-cryptographic techniques with commitment schemes to achieve snark functionality, reducing the expense of verification.

• How do ZKVMs improve developer experience and security?

  ZKVMs allow programming in high-level languages, simplifying the developer experience and improving security by reducing the surface area for bugs. They are used to protect valuable assets by running computer programs correctly on the blockchain.

• What are snarks and ZKVMs?

  Snarks are technologies that compress validation programs, enabling efficient verification while maintaining trust. ZKVMs simplify snark usage for developers, bridging decentralization and efficiency in the blockchain ecosystem.

• 00:00 Verifiable computing, snarks, and ZKVMs are revolutionizing blockchain scalability and enabling broader applications. Snarks compress validation programs, allowing efficient verification while maintaining trust. ZKVMs simplify snark usage for developers, bridging decentralization and efficiency. Snark design parallels real hardware design, offering surprising insights.
• 10:18 ZKM allows programming in high-level languages, simplifies the developer experience, and improves security; Jolt aims to address performance and security issues by speeding up the prover, simplifying implementation, and providing high-level language support for RV32I instructions.
• 20:31 The Su-CHE protocol is a powerful non-cryptographic tool for achieving efficiency in snark design. It reduces the amount of cryptography required by the prover, making verification less expensive.
• 29:44 The speaker had implemented a protocol called the GKR protocol, advocated for its power, and now sees it gaining traction. The protocol builds on a lookup argument called a lasso, which allows for efficient computation and validation of answers in a way similar to real hardware. However, the current field size constraint of 256-bit for snarks presents a challenge in leveraging existing performance strategies like GPUs.
• 38:52 The current implementation of zkSNARKs in Juvix uses elliptic curve cryptography, which results in large overhead on hardware. Switching to hashing-based techniques can make Juvix 10x faster, improving the overall performance of zkSNARKs, and making them more applicable to a wider range of use cases.
• 47:54 The team is invested in R&D for improving snark design, expects further improvement from better protocols, engineering, and specialized hardware, and anticipates the formation of a market for snark-related hardware. Major developments and optimizations have led to improvements in snark performance.
• 56:57 The team encountered challenges with off-the-shelf tools and had to build custom solutions. The partnership between researchers and engineers was fruitful but required bridging communication gaps. They plan to address technical debt and make interfaces more generic. The open-source project aims to encourage adoption and trust in the technology. Potential applications include verifiable compilation for smart contracts and broader usage in blockchains.
• 01:06:34 The segment discusses the concept of 'bring your own feed algorithm' in decentralized social platforms and the potential for a decentralized app store using succinct proofs. It also addresses the use of terms like ZK VM and emphasizes the importance of security in snarks.